Break Up and Make Up
by FangZeronos
Summary: When Raven and Beast Boy's date goes terribly wrong, relationship dynamics in the Titans change for either better or worse.


The door slid closed between Garfield Logan and Raven, cutting her off from the world again in the darkness of the Tower's hallway. Gar sighed, looking down at the wine on his shirt. He didn't know what caused the date to go south. He hated that it did. Things were going so good. What happened?

_"Raven, please. I didn't do this!" Gar repeated on the walk back to the Tower. Cyborg had refused to let Gar drive the T-Car, and after the previous incident, it was probably for the best. "Raven, please!"_

_"Stop talking!" Raven snarled, four red eyes glaring at the green shapeshifter as she rounded on him. Her dress had been ruined by her plate landing in her lap, coating her stomach and hips with pasta sauce, her wine glass had burst and soaked her upper torso in red wine. There was evidence that she had felt like crying over what happened, but she never showed it too long. "You ruin everything! Somehow or another, you constantly screw things up! I never should have agreed to this stupid date! I knew you'd screw it up, too. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up that you'd actually matured for a change!"_

_With a look that said he'd been wounded deeply by her words, Garfield fell silent as the walk back to the Tower came to feel like he was on Death Row and it was his Dead Man Walking moment. He walked back into the Tower with Raven, leading her to her room._

_"Raven-"_

_"I never..." Raven whispered, opening her door. She stopped and turned her head to look at Garfield, anger in her eyes slowly replaced by hatred. "From now on, all we are is teammates.I don't want to ever go out with you again. This is over, Beast Boy." She spat the last word like it was poison, disappearing into the shadows of her room..._

Garfield sighed to himself, undoing the tie around his neck as he walked away down the hall, ducking into his room. "I didn't do anything this time," he muttered, the door sliding shut behind him as he let the darkness envelope him. He threw the tie onto the desk in the corner, shrugging off the suit jacket and button up shirt he wore, changing into his uniform before he walked out with the shirt and towards the laundry, reading the tag as he did. "Hot water, bleach as needed. Tumble dry low. Hang immedately after drying. Easy enough..."

As he turned the corner to head downstairs into the laundry, he heard sniffling from inside the room. Walking in, he saw Starfire sitting on the dryer and crying, tears falling down her cheeks. Her eyes were red, and evidently she'd been crying for a while. "Kori?" he asked, walking over and setting his shirt on the washing machine. "Kori, are you ok?"

Starfire's head lifted up, and as she saw Garfield, she flung herself at him, sending them both toppling to the floor. She pressed her face against his chest, staining his tunic with tears. "I am not okay," she wailed. "Dick announced he wished to do the breaking up with me. I did not know what he meant until Cybrog told me what it meant. I-"

Garfield sat up slowly, Starfire adjusting and sitting across his lap. "I'm sorry, Kori," he whispered. "Trust me, I know what you're feeling. Maybe not as strongly, but I am."

Starfire looked at Garfield, raising an eyebrow slowly. "How? What happened tonight on your date with Raven?" As he explained, Starfire helped him stand and she took his shirt from him, spraying pretreater on it and setting it to the side to set. "You did not have the cushions of whoopee on you tonight? Or anything that could be damaging?"

"No! I made sure to leave all of my joke crap here in the Tower. I gave it all to Cyborg so he could lock it up," Garfield said, jumping up and sitting on the banister for the staircase heading up. "I was doing everything right. She got up to go to the bathroom before the meal got there, and when it did, I waited for her instead of starting to eat. I was trying to do everything right in hopes of a second date. When she sat down, she actually smiled, Kori. Raven smiled and picked up her wine glass, but the second she did, her plate flipped over into her lap, her dress she just bought becoming the main course, and her wine glass shattered, soaking her in Merlot. She got pissed off and started screaming at me. So I did what I thought was the best thing. I paid for the meal and we left. On the way here, she turned and screamed at me that she shouldn't have hoped for me to have matured any. Nothing I said could make her stop being angry."

Starfire listened, nodding slowly. She turned her back and started the washing machine, pouring in some detergent and softener, laying his shirt in the machine and closed the lid before she sat atop it her ankles crossed. "It seems that...Raven is hurt deeply by this. Perhaps in time the two of you can work this out," she said. "I suspect you would have a better time then Dick and myself." She sighed softly, sliding off of the washer. "I think I am going to retire to my room." She walked past Garfield, stopping before she turned around and hugged him. "It will be ok, Garfield." She kissed his cheek softly, walking upstairs and leaving him alone in the basement with nothing but his thoughts and the sound of the washing machine clanking as it worked.

"I hope so, Kori," he sighed. "I sincerely hope so."

A few days passed, things around Jump City relatively quiet. Raven never stayed at the Tower for long, and Garfield didn't play hours on hours of video games with Cyborg anymore. He'd taken to the library to keep himself occupied, Starfire occasionally joining him when she could not stand to be near Dick anymore.

Across town, Raven sighed to herself as she walked into her favorite cafe, heading for the counter. She looked at the board and picked her iced coffee, waiting in line for her time at the counter. When she finally approached, the young man behind the counter looked up and smiled at the empath.

"WHat can I get you today?" he asked, his nametag reading "Jason" as his name.

Raven blinked, staring at the tall twenty year old behind the counter. Her mind went blank, and after a minute she got herself togther. She shook herself mentally, her face. "Umm...c-can I get an iced mocha with milk, please?" she asked, her voice stammering a bit.

"Sure," Jason said. "WHat's the name?"

"Raven," the purplenette said, smiling softly. She didn't know what was wrong with her. She'd never just broken into smiles like this before, and judging by the way Jason's voice was wiggling it's way into her ears, she'd probably be smiling the rest of the day.

"Raven," Jason said. "Got it. That'll be seven dollars and fifteen cents, please." Raven handed over a ten dollar bill, putting the change in the tip jar. "That'll be just a few minutes."

Raven nodded, her face still red. "Thank you," she said, heading to a table and sitting down, rubbing her cheeks. _"What is wrong with you, Raven? You've never been like this." _she thought, shaking her head. After about eight minutes, her name was called. She walked up and got her coffee, smiling softly. "Thank you, Jason."

"You're welcome, Raven," Jason replied with a similar smile. "Hope to see you again."

"No problem," Raven said before her brain could catch up to her mouth. She covered her mouth and turned before she nearly ran out of the cafe, heading for the park. "Oh, my God. What is wrong with you Raven?"

Jason smiled, watching Raven walk out. "I'll be seeing you again soon, Raven," he said, turning back to his register and taking the next orders in line.

In the Tower, Garfield sighed as he put the book he had just finished back on the shelf, sitting down in the worn out chair and pressing his hands into his eyes. "God. Need a break from all of that," he muttered. He got up again and headed out of the library, walking towards the kitchen. The door opened and he bumped into Starfire who was balancing a bowl of chocolate ice cream and a stack of DVDs. "Kori?"

"Oh. My apologies, Garfield," the Tamaranian Princess said with a smile. "I decided that today was going to be the "lazy day" as Cyborg calls it. I thought to have some ice cream and watch a varied selection of movies. Would you care to join me?"

Garfield smiled softly, nodding. "I'd love to," he said, taking the stack of DVDs from Starfire. "Lead the way." After a few minutes of walking, the door slid closed behind Starfire and Garfield at her room, shutting the two mending hearts away.


End file.
